The Irish World
Maskey arrested in Turkey

Five Irish republicans were arrested in Turkey last Saturday, hours after their arrival in Istanbul to visit hunger strikers protesting at the introduction of new F-type jails which they say will isolate prisoners.

Sinn Fein assembly member Alex Maskey was among the group arrested as they were on their way to meet the prisoners' families.

"The police brought us to the station and took our passports," Mr Maskey said.

"They didn't speak to us at all, and we were released after about an hour and a half and given our passports back."

A delegation from the IRSP also arrived in Istanbul at the weekend. Before their arrival a spokesman warned of a tense situation in the city.

"As we were preparing for our visit, we were informed of the death of Umis Sahingos after a death fast of 330 days," he said.

"This was followed by telephone reports from her funeral that the mourners had been attacked by the police.

"Five international lawyers there on a fact-finding tour have been arrested. These are very worrying scenes in any state, never mind one seeking entry to the EU."

The arrests came as a week after former MP Bernadette McAliskey called for the Turkish ambassador to Ireland to be expelled from the country over the hunger strikes at a rally in Dublin.

The meeting saw speakers from a number of Irish political parties draw parallels between the situation in Turkey and the H-block hunger strikes.

The Turkish hunger strikes have received significant coverage in Ireland as a reslt of the 1981 precedent. An Irish Times journalist was recently arrested and held for twelve hours by the Turkish authorities while covering the story.

In her speech to the rally, Ms McAliskey said the two parties present with representatives in the Dail, Sinn Fein and the Green Party "must be harangued to propose a motion in the Dail that the Turkish ambassador be removed from this country."

Also speaking was Michael Devine, whose father, also Michael Devine, died on hunger strike in 1981.

"For myself personally, the struggle of those held within the walls of these inhuman isolation F-type cells and prison walls has brought many memories flooding back," he said.

"My family, like each and every family connected to the 1980-1981 prison struggle, understands the pain and torment which those of our comrades in the state of Turkey are going through."